Recap: Writing Competition 2025
This year, we invited young writers from around the world to explore the powerful ways the digital age is reshaping culture, identity, and connection. From social media activism to the redefinition of belonging, your submissions reflected deep thought, creativity, and a wide range of lived experiences.
We’re proud to present the results of the 2025 Writing Competition, showcasing voices that captured the complexities of cultural identity in an increasingly connected and digitized world. These stories offer bold reflections, ask important questions, and remind us that culture today is not confined by geography, but shaped through a global dialogue.
Dive into the winning entries, honorable mentions, and youth highlights and witness the future of storytelling in the digital age.
Creative Writing
The winner of the competition for creative writing is Maria Beatrice B. Endaya, from the Philippines. In her piece, “The Pen or the Phone”: Dr. José Rizal’s Thoughts on Modern-Day Technology, she wrote about how Dr. José Rizal would have reacted to modern-day technology. Dr. José Rizal is a Filipino nationalist, writer, and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered a national hero in the Philippines. This piece explores many topics such as Rizal’s contributions to Filipino society and his occupations, his educational background, other interests, etc. It also touches the topic of how he would have reacted to modern technology.
The second runner in the competition is Davin Fortin from Indonesia with Skybound Wishes. This story is about a girl, known as Allaya, and her conflicted feelings about the virtual celebration of Vesak. She tries to think of what her grandmother would have said about the celebration taking place virtually.
The third runner-up of the competition is Chhavi Kapoor from India. In The Fate of Screen and Soul, Chhavi has written a poem that highlights the contrasting differences between the digital age and the past. It discusses how the digital age has made the current generation feel disconnected, as there are numerous conveniences resulting from the rapid evolution of technology. It has also drawn similarities with Draupadi, from the Indian epic Mahabharata, and the victims in the modern age.
Critical Writing
Adwoa Birago Addai Boamah, from Australia, is the winner for critical writing of the competition. In the piece Asante Culture and the Digital Era: Preservation or Erosion, Adwoa talks about how the Asante culture is affected by social media. It touches on many topics, such as how important symbols lose their value due to being used as aesthetic tattoos by non-Ghanians. It also talks about the divide between the young and old in Asante due to social media slang and language.
Maria Elisha F. Padre is the second-place runner-up of the writing competition for critical thinking. Her writing, TikTalked Traditions: How the Most Online Nation Rewrites Culture in 30 Seconds, consisted of critical thinking about how social media describes not only her country, the Philippines, but also the world. The piece talks about how on social media, we are always presented with a polished version of different countries, and we do not know the true nature of what is happening in a country. Be it political scenarios, pop culture, or the heritage of a country, we do not know the true nature of the landscape in a country. What this piece is saying is that what we see on social media is just the tip of the iceberg.
Sohagni Roy from India is the third runner-up in the competition for critical writing. In the essay ABOL TABOL - Digitalisation of Interaction : Decoding Memes, Reels and Today's Language, Sohagni talks about the invention of modern-day slang used by the current generation. It also talks about the roots of the most commonly used words on the Internet.
Honourable Mentions
Honourable mentions include writings of Marvinci Bobbylex-Oduali from Nigeria, Samridhi Puri from India, Smita Elizabeth Biswas from Bangladesh, Joyce Tiffany Zhan, North Sumatra Indonesia and David Beckham Unaegbu, Texas, United States.
The piece Out with the old, in with the new culture written by Marvinci highlights how technology and social media are reshaping cultural norms in Nigeria by empowering youth to challenge harmful traditions, amplify marginalized voices, and demand accountability, transforming a once-silent society into one where digital platforms drive social awareness, activism, and a redefinition of cultural identity in the modern age. Samridhi, in My Culture, My Story, My Pride, touches on how social media has led to cultural exploitation and appropriation, and how it has caused the new generation to drift away from their cultural roots. Smita’s poem, Just Between The Clicks, acknowledges both the advantages and disadvantages of modern and advanced technologies, such as the increased accessibility of education through online courses, while also highlighting the dangers of privacy issues on social media. Joyce Tiffany Zhan with the piece In All Timelines, It Stays the Same explores how technology and social media are reshaping cultural interactions and perceptions among youth through Amara’s connection with the mythological figure Kadita, revealing how digital platforms both preserve and distort cultural identity, as younger generations navigate between inherited traditions and the fast-paced, often superficial demands of the digital age. In More Than a Screen: Growing Up in the Digital Age David Beckham Unaegbu reflects on how technology and social media have transformed cultural norms for today’s youth, illustrating both the empowering and overwhelming effects of growing up online, where digital platforms have replaced traditional spaces of cultural exchange, allowing for global connection and activism, while also introducing new pressures around identity, validation, and self-worth.
Youth Spotlight Recognition Awards
We’re also proud to present the Youth Spotlight Award, celebrating the incredible talents of writers aged 10 to 13. These young storytellers brought fresh perspectives and heartfelt honesty to the conversation, proving that you’re never too young to reflect on the world around you and make your voice heard.
Rameen Radiyah from Bangladesh wrote about how technology and social media are changing cultural norms among the youth. She has included statistical data about the use of social media and how her own culture is affected by social media. She highlights the negative effects of social media on culture and how the youth react to their own culture.
Fariha Hasan from Bangladesh talked in Culture Rebooted By Tech about the history of her country and how many lack the understanding of their own culture. She asks the rhetorical question of why the current generation forgets the culture of their ancestors, and why it is being allowed. She believes that there are many factors to this, such as globalization and Western media influence. She also touches on some positive attributes of social media, for example, the share and exposure of culture.
From Indonesia, Adeline Luhur wrote a fictional piece called When the Goddess Returns in which a girl named Rosie encounters the goddess, Dewi Sri. In this piece, the goddess is angered by humanity’s wastage of food and how her wrath has caused humanity to suffer from bad harvests, a shortage of food, and increased prices. Rosie has to prove to the goddess that not everyone wastes the food given to them.
Adwoa Birago Addai Boamah from Australia in Asante Culture and the Digital Era: Preservation or Erosion explores how social media and modern technology are reshaping Asante culture by both preserving and promoting its traditions globally, through digital language learning and viral cultural trends, while simultaneously contributing to cultural dilution, generational divides, and the erosion of foundational values like elder respect and oral storytelling, ultimately calling for a balanced integration of tradition and digital innovation.
Congratulations!🎉
Congratulations!🎉
We were honored to receive incredible submissions from ten countries for our 2025 Writing Competition: India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, United States, Nigeria, Philippines, Australia, Botswana, and Tanzania! This year, we invited young writers to reflect on how the digital age is reshaping culture, identity, and connection — and your responses were nothing short of inspiring.
Through your writing, we gained meaningful insight into how technology and social media are transforming the way we share, express, and even construct our cultural identities. From TikTok activism to digital storytelling, you showed us how today’s youth are navigating a world where heritage is no longer just inherited — it’s co-created in a global village that defies borders and norms.
Your voices illuminated the beauty and complexity of this evolving digital landscape. While we wish we could feature every submission, don’t worry if you didn’t receive an award this time — more writing opportunities and contests are on the way! Be sure to follow us on Instagram to stay updated.
At The World in Us, we believe that every story shared in this new age bridges not only cultures, but generations and perspectives. So keep writing, keep questioning, and keep adding your voice to the global tapestry of ideas and identities. Together, we’re shaping a cultural future that is as inclusive, dynamic, and connected as the digital world itself.
